I feel more related to some American crime writers than I do to Stieg Larsson.
I wasn't that into crime novels at all, but a friend introduced me to the work of Jim Thompson - I loved all his books.
My influence is probably more from American crime writers than any Europeans. And I hardly read any Scandinavian crime before I started writing myself. I wasn't a great crime reader to begin with.
I'm afraid I didn't really like Caracas in Venezuela. From what I saw it seemed so crime-ridden that you really have to be on your guard all the time.
